milk
Forms
- Plural
- milks
- present (v1)
- milk
- past (v2)
- milked
- past participle (v3)
- milked
- present participle
- milking
- 3rd person singular
- milks
Definitions
1.A white (or whitish) liquid obtained from a vegetable source such as almonds, coconuts, oats, rice, or soy beans.
- For environmentally minded consumers, the news is hard to swallow: almond milk is not healthy for the planet and the popular milk substitute is especially hard on bees.
- Where it does fall down, however, is its nutritional value. While oats are largely a healthy grain to include in your diet, the milk is highly diluted with water, giving it little nutritional value.
2.A white liquid produced by the mammary glands of female mammals to nourish their young. From certain animals, especially cows, it is also called dairy milk and is a common food for humans as a beverage or used to produce various dairy products such as butter, cheese, and yogurt.
- Skyr is a product made of curdled milk.
- In the West it's' fairly normal to drink milk in various forms into adulthood.
3.An individual serving of milk.(informal)
- Table three ordered three milks.
4.An individual portion of milk, such as found in a creamer, for tea and coffee.
- I take my tea with two milk and two sugar.
- I take my tea with two milks and two sugars.
- She just sat there drinking cup after cup of strong coffee, with two milks and two sugars.
1.To express a liquid from a creature.
- He captures animals for zoos around the world... and milks cobra snakes for their venom.
- The Australian government has a team that regularly milks various snakes for venom to use creating serums and antivenoms.
2.To make excessive use of (a particular point in speech or writing, a source of funds, etc.); to exploit; to take advantage of (something).
- When the audience began laughing, the comedian milked the joke for more laughs.
3.To express milk from (a mammal, especially a cow).
- The farmer milked his cows.
4.To draw (milk) from the breasts or udder.
Frequency
Overall
Uncommon· #2211
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Rare
- General reading & writing
- Uncommon
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Rare
Etymology
From Middle English milk, mylk, melk, mulc, from Old English meolc, meoluc (“milk”), from Proto-West Germanic *meluk (“milk”), from Proto-Germanic *meluks (“milk”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂melǵ- (“milk, to milk”).
Cognates